Ashley knew that telling Ethan that she was leaving was the easy part. The hard part would be telling her mother. Like a true prince, he offered to come with her, but she knew that this conversation was something she needed to do on her own. That evening, she went to find Helen in her office.

"Mom?" she asked as she stood in the doorway. Helen looked up from what she was holding, and Ashley noticed it was a bottle of aspirin. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine; I just have a bit of a headache."

Ashley didn't think that she'd ever seen her mother take pain medication for anything less serious than wounds that required surgery. "It must be pretty bad."

"I said I'm fine," she shot. "Did you need something?"

This wasn't exactly how she had wanted the conversation to start, but she couldn't turn back now. "Um, yeah. Ethan's going back to Sydney tomorrow… and I want to go with him."

Helen's head shot up, her eyes hard. "Absolutely not."

"Mom – "

"You're needed here."

"You've been managing without me for the past two months."

Helen raised an eyebrow. "So that makes it all right for you to run out on your responsibilities?"

"I'm not running out on my responsibilities! I'll have plenty of new ones in Australia. Including helping Ethan with that study you wanted to see the results of."

"He doesn't need your help."

"He wants it. And I'd like to give it."

Helen shook her head. "No. Your place is here. In case you've forgotten, you're still under both my and Will's medical care."

"I haven't had a session with Will in six months, Mom. And Ethan's seen my file; I'm sure he can handle pretty much anything that could come up. And if he can't, we both know that I can get back here to see you pretty damn quick." Helen didn't respond. "Look, I'm not a little kid anymore, and I'm not as fragile as I have been. I can handle this."

"And who's going to be there to help you the next time you recklessly go headlong into some situation and end up as a threat to everyone around you?"

Ashley froze, stunned that her mother had actually said that. "I…I can't believe…" She sniffed and hastily wiped her eyes. "There's no point to me being alive if I can't make choices for myself. I know there's a risk, with everything I do, but that's true for all of us. You can't keep me locked up in the castle, not anymore." And with that, she stormed out.

After taking a little time to cool off with a punching bag in the fitness room, Ashley headed downstairs to find her father. She didn't think anyone else would understand the significance of that argument like he would. They sat in the kitchen together and he quietly listened while the whole story came out.

"Obviously we've had disagreements over the years," she told him. "Both personal and professional. But that… she knew how much saying that would affect me. And she didn't even care."

"I've been a bit concerned about your mother," he confessed. "I think the stress of things is affecting her."

"Stress never affects her."

"I know. I'm not sure what's happened. I'm going to talk to her, all right? Perhaps she needs to have some scans done."

Ashley frowned. "You think there's something wrong with her?"

"I don't know. Can you go get your brother ready for bed?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Dad." He smiled.

On the way upstairs, John thought over what he was going to say to his wife. If there really was a problem, he knew that Helen wouldn't appreciate his suggestion that she get checked out. Convincing her likely wouldn't be easy, but he was prepared to bring in Will, Ethan, or anyone else that he had to. Enough was enough; he was starting to really get worried.

Helen was still in her office, working on her computer. John closed the door behind him once he entered the room; this didn't need to be a public discussion.

"What is it?" she asked when she noticed him.

"I heard you had a bit of a row with Ashley?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course she instantly went running to you."

John had had trouble believing his daughter's claim that Helen had no remorse for her earlier comment, but now his doubt was beginning to be removed. "She's worried," he informed her. "And hurt."

Helen dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "It's not your concern."

John raised an eyebrow. "It isn't?"

"No."

"She's my daughter, too."

She looked up, her blue eyes darkened with anger. "You think you can step in now like you know anything about us? Like you've been here all along? I am the one who raised her. I'm the one who was REALLY a parent to her."

He was surprised by the venom in that statement, but it only strengthened his resolve to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. "I know that I wasn't there. I don't pretend to understand everything you've gone through. Right now, I'm just trying to help our family as a whole."

Helen scoffed as she got up from her chair and rounded her desk. "You've never wanted to help me. You hid behind me and manipulated me. You took pleasure in seeing me in pain and you worked endlessly to find the most creative ways to cause more of it."

That was unexpected. John had privately harbored a lot of guilt over the past few years for what he had done in the century before. It didn't matter that he hadn't really been in control of himself; he'd still badly hurt the people that he loved. There was no way to change or fix that. He'd never thought that Helen would throw those feelings in his face.

"I-I don't know how to tell you how sorry I am."

"Spare me," she cut him off as she turned away from him. "There isn't an apology for what you've done. You couldn't – " Helen suddenly stopped, and remained motionless for a moment before she collapsed to the floor. John tried to catch her, and was just barely able to slow her descent. He then stared in horror as she began to convulse.

TBC...